Construction Starts on New Office Campus in Santa Monica

The two-building, four-story campus developed by Colorado Creative Studios involves the collaboration of LEED-qualified architects DRDS and Gruen Associates, with JLL handling project and development management.

Santa Monica Gateway office campus, rendering

Santa Monica, Calif.–Colorado Creative Studios has begun development on Santa Monica Gateway, a 200,000-square-foot creative office campus in Santa Monica, Calif. JLL is leading the leasing and is also handling project and development management.

“Anything that is new construction in Santa Monica is noteworthy because the constraint of supply and the approval process is known to be difficult,” Carl Muhlstein, JLL’s managing director of its Los Angeles office, told Commercial Property Executive. “Santa Monica continues to appeal to firms because of its abundant amenities, multiple transit options, millennial housing and skilled labor.”

Located at 2834 Colorado Ave., the two-building, four-story campus features 10,600 to 36,000-square-foot floor plates. Onsite amenities include bike lockers and showers, and the entire campus is also complemented by a three-level subterranean garage.

“One of the things that attracted me to work on this was the design in terms of concrete, glass, clean lines and all the parking is subterranean,” Muhlstein said. “The game changer is that it’s a 10-minute walk to the new Expo line, which is going live to the beach this week.”

According to JLL Research, media and entertainment sectors accounted for 33 percent of all leasing activity in the first quarter of 2016, which is why the campus is being developed to fit the needs of technology and media tenants.

“Tenants can start from a blank canvas,” Muhlstein said. “A lot of the tenants we are talking to don’t want to live through a reset or remodel, they would rather move into a better design, more efficient new installation.”

The LEED-qualified campus architects are DRDS and Gruen Associates. The campus will be available for occupancy in late 2017.